Chairman says Menifee Planning Commission may have made a mistake
Chairman says planners may have made a mistake

Eyad Shalabi isn’t specifically interested in selling beer and wine in the market he’s planning to open on state Route 74 in Romoland.

The 26-year-old businessman does, however, want to provide one-stop shopping for would-be customers.

“Say you want carne asadas this weekend,” said Shalabi, who plans to open California Ranch Grocery Market in three months in the space previously occupied by Bargain Basket Food & Drug Outlet. “You want to come to my store and I don’t have beer. You know, it’s carne asadas and you want a 12-pack of Bud Light. You want to buy the meat and the produce, but I don’t have the beer?

“So let’s skip this place and go to Winco. I’ll lose that sale because I don’t have that $10 worth of beer.”

Determined to keep that business, Shalabi is appealing a Planning Commission decision last month to deny his request for a conditional use permit to sell beer and wine at his store. As is the case with his family’s other stores in San Diego County, alcohol would be a minor component in a store geared toward meats and produce, Shalabi said.

The City Council will hear his appeal Tuesday, two weeks after Menifee’s planners decided — with a 4-1 vote — that there were sufficient options to purchase alcohol in the community near state Route 74 and Sherman Road.

However, Shalabi and building owner Brenda Van Dyke said they were concerned that the commissioners’ discussion appeared to be based on personal beliefs. They said the permit denial placed unfair restrictions on would-be tenants trying to make a living in that location.

Van Dyke specifically directed her displeasure toward Commissioner Lesa Sobek, who said, “Let’s keep Menifee a safe place to live,” in making a motion to deny the permit.

“One lady believes in prohibition and a business owner suffers,” Van Dyke said after the meeting.

That wasn’t the case, Sobek said via phone Friday, reiterating that public testimony at the commission meeting — not her personal beliefs — informed her motion to deny the permit.

“Just because I don’t drink or smoke doesn’t mean I would ever tell anyone what they can do,” Sobek said. “I went to that meeting with my mind not being made up. I went there to hear and that’s why we have a public hearing — to gather information. That’s an important part of the process. I’m not sitting on that dais making decisions on my own.”

Two weeks later, Shalabi’s appeal comes with newfound support.

Although Commissioner Mark Matelko cast the lone dissenting vote, Chairman Matt Liesemeyer said he regretted the tone of a discussion that ultimately may have required further information before a vote.

On top of Romoland Liquor Market owner Amer Agugherir proclaiming that Shalabi selling beer and wine “would adversely affect my business,” another resident said other locales sold alcohol in the vicinity, including the nearby Big League Dreams Sports Parks in the city of Perris, another nearby gas mart and an upcoming gas station at Trumble Road.